How can travel have faith in government when it won’t consult with us? And, if we travel experts don’t understand what’s going on, what hope has the consumer?

Countries are rolling on and off the safe list, with no data shared. What’s happened to the Foreign Office’s highly successful traffic light system? The one that told us regionally where we could and couldn’t go and was clear for travel professionals selling – and consumers buying?

We have regional lockdowns in the UK, but the government seems uneasy with these same guidelines overseas. Tourist areas with beaches abroad adhere to social distancing rules, but mayhem rules in the UK. Surely we can identify problem areas and simply restrict travel to them?

If more destinations are added to the “no go” list, we won’t have an industry. Aito’s 200-plus outbound agents and operators are already wondering where the next booking will come from. By January, will we be able to deliver the experiences that our customers crave?

We desperately need people to keep travelling to maintain an industry offering consumer choice and good value for money, and to support those destinations relying on British visitors.

We also need joined-up government thinking across the five ministries with a finger in the travel industry pie, but it’s unfortunately a case of too many cooks and certainly no head chef.

What’s the point of the FCO advising against travel to a destination if the Department for Transport allows airlines to fly there? Insurers won’t cover the consumer due to the FCO advice; the law, meanwhile, says customers can have a full refund – but the airlines are not obliged to reimburse. There is simply no logic in this mad mix.

It is plain government doesn’t understand the travel industry. We’re all too easy to ignore, lost amid those five different ministries. Our £37 billion per annum contribution to the exchequer – despite equating to more than agriculture and fishing combined – seems to be insufficient to gain chancellor Rishi Sunak’s attention, or encourage any supportive action.

So far, just a few travel companies have entered into administration but, as the traditional low season approaches with research indicating people won’t start travelling until 2021, we are staring at a bleak winter ahead, with many businesses having had no income now for close to nine months. We desperately need help to survive this deep trough of three winters combined into one big hit.

While the furlough scheme has been a saviour to some businesses, by paying people not to work, it has made it hard for us in travel to deliver much-needed high levels of customer service with fewer staff.

We accept furloughing has to end, but the travel industry needs significant support to survive the next six months.

Our chancellor, and his Treasury team, need to grasp the value delivered to the tax coffers by the outbound travel market, and to look at a special travel industry package to keep businesses going without massive redundancies.

Mr Sunak, please invest in travel jobs now rather than paying out unemployment and other benefits later.